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Coal India and its subsidiaries will now be able to extract Coal Bed Methane from its mines without seeking approvals under the Petroleum & Natural Gas Rules 1959 (PNG Rules, 1959).
An official statement said that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved amending clause 3 (xiii) of the notification dated 03.11.2015 issued by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural gas under Section 12 of the Oil Fields (Regulation and Development) Act, 1948 (ORD Act, 1948).
“Due to this amendment relaxation is granted under the Petroleum & Natural Gas Rules 1959 (PNG Rules, 1959), to Coal India Limited (CIL) and its subsidiaries for not applying for grant of license/lease under the PNG Rules, 1959 for extraction of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) under their Coal Bearing Areas,” the statement added.
The government expects that this will expedite the exploration and exploitation of CBM, enhance the availability of natural gas and reduce the gap in demand and supply of natural gas.
The government had earlier issued a notification on 03.11.2015 granted rights to CIL and its subsidiaries for exploration and exploitation of CBM from all coal bearing areas for which they possess mining lease for coal.
In another decision, the Cabinet approved the delegation of powers to the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Finance to approve the award of the Blocks/Contract Areas to successful bidders under HELP/OALP after International Competitive Bidding (ICB).
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